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Drawing on the poetic wisdom of the Tao Te Ching, American sensei Wendy Palmer translates the powerful teachings of aikido for use in everyday life--all without practicing the vigorous exercises of this martial art itself. With poignant reflections on her own life, including her Conscious Embodiment work and teaching inmates in a woman's federal prison, she describes how we can lose our sense of freedom, vitality, and integrity when under the duress of life's "attacks." She explores a process that responds to the question How? How do we transform our negativity into budo, or love, and how do we move from reactivity to freedom?

The Practice of Freedom is invaluable not only for students of aikido and other movement and martial arts, but also for those who seek to live with confidence and self-reliance, to establish clear and compassionate boundaries, and to deepen their capacities for relationships.

This is one of my favorite aikido philosophy books. I reread it and/or dip into it from time to time for spiritual validation and to strengthen my courage to live life fully. Ms. Palmer goes beyond the typical surface layer treatment of aikido philosophy and extends it to civic action/responsibility. It treats areas that most all aikidoka already think about, but Ms. Palmer brings a lucid, yet succinct beauty to these soulful topics. Many of the ideas are presented, in embryonic form, in her first book, "The Intuitive Body" and one can see how her ideas have growth from those first original thoughts. I think this is valuable and beautiful book. I first read it a few years ago during a horrific period of my life and it gave me great comfort. As an aside, I was so moved by this book (it may have been the timing), that I posted an open letter to Ms. Palmer as a review of this book on Amazon.com